The Loneliest smile the Brightest'
by dragonheartt
Summary: PRIMEWHO : "When he returned to Earth, he was a broken man...The Doctor had a name. He hadn't used it in such a long time, so long that he'd almost forgotten it...The Doctor's name was Connor Temple..." When The Doctor chooses to spend his last chance at life pretending to be human, going by his real name of Connor Temple, he never expected the Anomalies to happen.
1. Chapter 1

When he returned to Earth, he was a broken man. He'd just regenerated recently, and he showed nor felt any pleasure in his new look. Not that it was the problem, not at all.

He was a broken man who had seen too much suffering, known too much loss. He wanted it to stop. He wasn't even sure how many regenerations he had left. But if this was his last chance to live, he knew he didn't want to spend it as he had every time before now. It hurt, too much. River was gone: she'd left, on her own, one day. She had never returned. (He knew what had happened, oh how he wished he didn't.) Everyone was gone - either dead, or in another universe, or unreachable, or had forgotten him, or any number of other reasons.

The Doctor was tired. Tired of it all. So he parked the TARDIS in an inconspicuous spot in London, England, year 2012, and started walking.

* * *

_"The loneliest people can be the kindest. The saddest people sometimes smile the brightest. The most damaged people are filled with wisdom. All because they do not wish the pain they've endured on another soul"_ _~unknown_

The Doctor had a name. He hadn't used it in such a long time, so long that he'd almost forgotten it. But he hadn't, not quite. Now that he was going to live amoung humans 'as' a human for all intents and purposes, he had to go by a regular name.

Might as well use his own, rather than try and go by "john smith". He had a feeling that that name, "john smith", was too common by now.

The Doctor's name was Connor Temple.

* * *

The Doctor- Connor - may have been a broken man, but he had no intention of letting anyone else know that. Perhaps it was pride, but he didn't think so. He wasn't sure he had any real pride left. Connor stared at his reflection in the glass of the shop window, bringing up a hand to push the long, dark hair out of his face. He needed new clothes, needed to not stand out quite so badly. Apparently bowties and logn jackets didn't really suit his new form. Figured, since he looked like a kid, someone only about 20 or so in human years.

He could remember his first form, dimly. It seemed that the older he became, the younger he looked. Despite that, Connor couldn't really find anything bad to say about how he looked now, beyond the need for better clothes.

Someone was looking at him like he was crazy, and Connor moved away from the window, flashing a bright smile at the other man, before entering the building. He still had Galifreyan tech with him: he wasn't willing to start completely from scratch.

Twenty minutes later, Connor left the store, wearing a grey pinstriped trilby, pale blue dress shirt, grey argyle pullover waistcoat, a pair of black slacks, and a pair of dark boots. It was a little chilly out, so he went looking for a new jacket as well.

* * *

He'd been 'human' for a month now, and was getting bored of being alone. It was relaxing, nto tryign ot worry about the problems of billions of individuals. Not that he wouldn't help someone if they were in trouble, but it felt like a weight of responsibility had lifted from his shoulders.

A curl of guilt stirred in his gut, and he pushed it away. He deserved a little bit of time to himself, especially if this was his last lease on life.

Connor was bored, and lonely. The landloard of the flat he was staying at had also warned him that, sadly, he would not be able to stay there any more after the lease was up. He had bought a laptop, and was working at a small cafe and tea shop. It wasn't what he wanted to do.

* * *

Since he looked like a 20 year old, Connor figured that, if he wanted to, he could see what human university was like. He was a genius, but he didn't know everything, and there was something that he was interested in.

Dinosaurs.

After the whole incident where he'd met Tricey, Connor's interest in the creatures was piqued. Anyone else would have questioned his sanity in considering going to uni when he didn't have to, but The Doctor enjoyed learning. You should always want to learn something new, otherwise the world would be a very, very boring place indeed. Not so much the universe, to be honest, but that was besides the point.

A bit of hacking done on his laptop and some copious use of Galifreyan tech to assist, and Connor was unofficially officially in his second year studying Paleontology at CMU, a nearby university.

He hadn't expected that decision to change his life all over again.

* * *

**TBC…**

_AN: Please note that I've watched a grand total of maybe 5 episodes of Doctor Who, and don't know a whole lot about it. Most of what I've figured out is based on Tumblr-stuff and those 5 or so episodes. ^^" But I do know Primeval! And for whatever crazy reason, my muse wants me to write Primewho (again) so... here y'go. :3 Will be several chapters._

_This started because my mind considered the scenes in S3 from the POV of Connor, and then of a Connor who was actually The Doctor, and well…. it snowballed. ^^" Hope you enjoy!_


	2. Chapter 2

He was glad of his advanced Galifreyan tech, Connor mused upon leaving his last class for that day. It had been a lecture, an introction to Paleontology course he had selected, taught by one Professor Nick Cutter.

Besides the Scottsman's gruff and stubborn manner, he was a good instructor, at least in Connor's opinion. Still, he was sure that without the advantages he had at hand, even with his natural brilliance, he would be quite lost in this class. Luckily, however, he was who he was, and had finally begun to catch up to the level of Cutter's lectures. He was rapidly gaining his footing as the weeks passed. With a small grin, he shifted his messenger bag's strap where it rested upon his shoulder, and headed for the cafe.

* * *

Connor had met Duncan in his computer programming class, and Tom in Physics. At first Duncan had been wary, until they began chatting more often, and the paranoid young man warmed to Conor's occasionally overzealous personality. Tom, in contrast, had been immediately friendly, though there was a level of tension and friction there between them that was not present with Duncan and Connor's interactions.

It wasn't until break time one day that Connor realized that Tom and Duncan knew each other. They'd asked if he wanted to sit with them, and the three had been good mates since that day. Even if Tom had a tendency towards throwing barbed jibes at Connor every so often; sometimes, Connor felt up to return in kind with teasing remarks. It felt comfortable. Maybe there was something about redheads and poking him with words, though… He determinedly turned his thoughts from the past.

* * *

"So you're a self-proclaimed geek, but you haven't seen Star Wars?!" Duncan asked, shocked. Connor nodded.

Connor nodded. "'adn't ever 'ad time to watch anythin' Trekkie, either, sadly."

Tom's eyes narrowed, and he propped his chin in his hands, elbows on the table.

"Why not?" The redhead asked, tone surpicious, but amused.

Connor ran through the story, which he'd concocted carefully, in his head swiftly, munching on his chips to cover the pause, and swallowed, thoughts collected.

"Bein' a child genius ain' easy, y'know." Connor said, chuckling ruefully. Duncan snorted, and Tom rolled his eyes, and relaxed. "Plus, this way you get ta show it to me." He added, grinning.

"You're assumin', Conn!" Duncan joked. Connor smirked.

"Oh, so I shouldn't pop by you guys' flat later ta get the 'ole Star Wars experience from the masters?" Connor teased lightly , flicking the straw in his soda so it spun around.

"Shut it puppy-eyes." Tom mock-scowled.

"So does that mean yes?" Well, Tom had mentioned his newest regeneration's soulful eyes, and turned the power of that look on his friends, who couldn't help but cave. Not that they didn't want to, of course!

* * *

TBC...

AN: perhaps I'll get up to the meeting with Cutter and Stephen soon with the creature sighting? Probably not but it doesn't hurt to hope ^^" and sorry this one's so short! if you peek around on tumblr under the Primewho tag, you can take a peek at the original version of this chapter if you really want to. some elements of it might be used in chapters to come...


End file.
